Like many districts across the U.S., Miami-Dade County Public Schools is experiencing a large number of open staff positions due to higher-than-normal numbers of retirements and resignations in the face of COVID-19 coupled with enrollment declines in local universities' education departments. The district, in partnership with New Teacher Center,…

Children in foster care are a vulnerable population in the United States K-12 education system. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative multiple-case study was to understand the perceptions of high school teachers, school social workers, and child welfare case managers regarding foster care and school collaboration protocols and supports put…

The Florida College and Career Readiness Initiative is a statewide policy that requires college readiness testing for grade 11 students and participation in college readiness and success courses for grade 12 students who do not test college-ready. During the first year of an evaluation of this initiative, data collection on program implementation…

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is an international comparative study designed to measure trends in mathematics and science achievement at the fourth and eighth grades, as well as to collect information about educational contexts (such as students' schools, teachers, and homes) that may be related to student…

AERA's 2016 theme is an exciting call for educational research that draws on history to inform present challenges and abiding societal dilemmas. In this regard, recent studies of African American segregated schooling have begun to illuminate the vibrancy, resilience, resourcefulness and professionalism that existed in African American school…

U.S. schools are facing chronic shortages of qualified teachers, resulting in the hiring of unqualified teachers who are disproportionately assigned to disadvantaged students. Further, changing demographics are resulting in racial/ethnic and cultural mismatch between teachers and students they serve, causing additional educational problems. This…

We investigated the effects of a statewide program designed to increase the supply of teachers in "hard-to-staff" areas. The Florida Critical Teacher Shortage Program (FCTSP) had three elements: (a) it provided loan forgiveness to teachers who were certified and taught in designated shortage areas; (b) it compensated teachers for the…

In spite of the well-paying, in-demand jobs that many STEM degrees can lead to, just 18 percent of the 1.9 million bachelor's degrees awarded in the U.S. in 2015-16 (the most recent data available) were in STEM subject areas.3 Given that about 5 percent of workers with a non-STEM undergraduate degree work in a STEM field, a large proportion of a…

More than 1 million U.S. high schoolers participate each year in dual enrollment, taking college courses that simultaneously fulfill high school graduation requirements and count toward a postsecondary degree or workforce credential. While most systems still have equity gaps in dual enrollment access, 20 percent do not. In "The Dual…

The EXCEL Program began as a National Science Foundation-sponsored STEM Talent Expansion Program in 2006 and, because of its significant impact on retention of STEM majors, has since become an institutionalized program at the University of Central Florida. The University of Central Florida EXCEL Program annually recruits approximately 200…

Aspen and the Community College Research Center studied nine dual enrollment programs across three states--Florida, Ohio, and Washington--that have narrowed or closed equity gaps in dual enrollment for Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Pacific Islander students. Based on this research, "The Dual Enrollment Playbook" describes the five…

The 42st annual conference of the Adult and Higher Education Alliance (AHEA) was held at the University of Central Florida in March 2018 and explored the theme, "Quality of Life in Adult Learning." The purpose of the Adult and Higher Education Alliance (AHEA) is to help institutions of higher education develop and sustain learning…

Staffing problems are pervasive in certain subject areas, such as secondary math and science and special education, where the combination of training requirements and relatively high alternative wages makes it difficult to attract and retain high-quality teachers. This project evaluated the impacts of the Florida Critical Teacher Shortage Program…

The data and research findings for this paper were derived from two studies. The first was commissioned to the National Afterschool Partnership (NAP) by the U.S. Department of Education to evaluate effective practices at the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLCs). The purpose of this study was to develop resources and professional…

In light of the current challenges in addressing the achievement gap between minority and non-minority students, the persistent problems of disproportionality in special education, and the dismal post-school outcomes for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students and those living in poverty, it is critical that successful models of…